Originally Posted by
pete311
I am not a parent, but I believe it's not so easy unless you want to sap the kid out of the kid and create some kind of militaristic Chinese environment where the kid ends up committing suicide under the pressure. So what is the line between letting a kid be a kid, aka make mistakes, and calling them undisciplined?
I'm not talking about honey boo boo parents, they are on the margins.
it's easy. It really is easy. in fact, requiring self-control often helps the creative process. You go to such extremes, ya know? In your reply? Growing-kids to respect themselves, NOT lust after themselves (id est, the self-entitled snowflake pussies we see on Watter's World videos); growing kids to be well-behaved is pretty simple in the plan.
When the kids are young, and they misbehave. Spank them. Couple swats through their diaper to get their attention. When they run out towards the street and you yell "STOP!" and they keep going? Spank them a little harder. The key is the kids learn to obey first, question second. As my kids grew they learnt physics about 'objects in motion'. They started to understand cars DO run kids over. See, the kids misbehaving is NOT about me. Them being assholes is about THEM - growing up an asshole makes one's life harder. My goal as a parent is to help them remove from their lives things that will hinder their growth (unless they become a democrat, then being an asshole is probably key to securing the democratic nomination). Until then it was best the kids simply trust me. Their Dad.
It's a lot like a God relationship for me. I wonder if God ever gets frustrated about the crap I do - frustrated because I set myself back in terms of my growth. I wonder if God gets frustrated at YOU pete because he's given you ALL the answers in your quest to connect with your creator and you ignore them all. the. time.
“… the greatest detractor from high performance is fear: fear that you are not prepared, fear that you are in over your head, fear that you are not worthy, and ultimately, fear of failure. If you can eliminate that fear—not through arrogance or just wishing difficulties away, but through hard work and preparation—you will put yourself in an incredibly powerful position to take on the challenges you face" - Pete Carroll.